It's been 30 years
since one of Scotland’s most humiliating
sporting defeat —
and the Tartan Army is
still talking about it.
On this day in 1978 at
the World Cup in Argentina,
we were spanked
3-1 by South American
minnows Peru.
It was our opening Group 4
game at the Estadio Chateau
Carreras in Cordoba, and it
was a crushing blow.

The entire country actually
believed manager Ally
MacLeod’s boys were certs to
WIN the whole tournament.
The team enjoyed a pre-
World Cup send-off at Hampden
Park, and 600 fans made
the trip to Argentina.

They tried to get there on
boats and planes — and in
one case hitch-hiking a ride
on a submarine.

Some of them enjoyed the
South American experience
so much they never left.
Jim Todd, 55, from Kilmarnock,
travelled with 14 of his
pals. They were so confident
they’d bought tickets for the
final in advance.
He said: “We’d bought a
package deal including flights
and tickets to every round,
including the final.
“It cost us £3,000, which
back then was a lot of
money. But it was a once-ina-
lifetime thing.
“I left thinking the team
could really win it and
become World Champions.
“But at the end of the Peru
game I was totally gutted — I
couldn’t believe what had
happened.
”
Mechanic Jim added: “Still,
we had a fantastic time over there. It was a great place
and I can see why a few of
the boys decided to make it
their home for good.”

Another fan who also made
the trip was John Cullen, 57,
— who forked out £1,300 on a
Thomas Cook deal to see the
Scotland games.
And John won’t ever be
allowed to forget the nightmare
defeat to Peru.
He said: “There’s a bit of
TV footage they always show
of fans giving the team pelters.
I’m right in the middle
with long hair — but I’m bald now.

” One diehard Ally
MacLeod supporter did head
for Argentina, but only made
it as far as New York.
Community worker John
Gregor, 49, from Ayr, was on
leave from the Merchant Navy
and flew out to the Big Apple
with £100 in his pocket.
He said: “It was me and
two of my pals — we thought
by getting to New York we
could just ‘turn left’ and
hitch-hike down to Argentina.
“We were young boys and
had no idea how far it was.
“We never got out of NewYork and to be honest after
the Peru result I was pretty
glad — what a choker that was.
“Ally MacLeod was my
hero as I’m a huge Ayr
United fan. He was the best
Scotland manager ever.
“But I really felt for him
that night — we had such a
good team and it was an
absolute nightmare result.
“I’ve been to every Scotland
away game since 1980 and I
don’t think any compares for
sheer disappointment.

”
MacLeod had Scotland
believing so much that the
song Ally’s Tartan Army —
performed by comic Andy
Cameron — shifted a whopping
360,000 copies and rocketed
to No6 in the charts.

But the result against Peru
wiped the smile off funnyman
Andy’s face.

He said: “With all the hype
I assumed we’d get through
the qualifying group and
didn’t even think about not
beating them easily.
“Everybody got so caught up
in the whole thing — at least
we know better these days.

”
After the Peru debacle the
Scots had another two games
to try to secure qualification.
Next we faced another
international football minnow,
Iran — and again disappointed
by only scraping a 1-1 draw.
Then it came down to the
final game against Holland —
with the Scots needing to
win by three goals.

Archie's off-the-air agony

IT went all wrong on the pitch against Peru — and
there was chaos up in the commentary box, too.
The situation was so bad that Archie Macpherson
couldn’t even do his job.

Archie, 71, said: “I’d been preparing for six
months and it was a really big thing for me.
“But somebody at BBC Scotland had forgotten to
book the line back. So after all that preparation my
commentary couldn’t go through and David
Coleman did it for the whole of the UK.

“I had to just sit there. It was agony.”

Even with Archie Gemmill’s
iconic strike, we won
by a margin of just 3-2, and went crashing out at the first
hurdle on goal difference. The dream was over — in
the most embarrassing way
possible.